Welsh and Cornish languages compared - numbers and questions

Welsh and Cornish are both Celtic Languages, and even closer, they are both Brythonic or British Languages. For this language comparison we look at numbers and basic questions in these two languages to see how similar they are, and what is different.

If you want to compare words yourself check out these books for language learners:

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[violenceislife]

I'm from Louisiana and I really appreciate these Celtic language discussions. Merci

[snarf]

I am from The Netherlands. Sometime ago I came across the song "Wrello Glaw" and fell in love with the song and language for some unknown reason. A year or so later I found out through a DNA test that I had a significant percentage Welsh/Irish/Scottish DNA. Perhaps that is why I loved it so much. ❤

[notmyrealname]

Meur ras dhe hwei for your content, I really enjoyed this video. Having not learned much welsh (yet, but other celtic languages) I look forward to seeing much more about it along with the other celtic languages. There's a long and almost forgotten history of the Celtic tribes that needs to be brought to light.

[edwardsaulnier]

I really enjoyed this video a lot. As a linguist, such comparisons of these two Brythonic Celtic languages, is very interesting. Yes, please provide more examples if you can. Thanks.

[xeviphract]

Yes please, more comparisons and divergences!

It feels like word archaeology to reconstruct the language and see how it develops over time. I have been watching Stori'r Iaith on S4C and seeing the connections to millennia-old language is really tantalising, but they didn't have time for a deep dive.

[adrianjones]

They were undoubtedly the same Brythonic language at one point, but isolation, the Breton influence(post Norman conquest) and the prolonged Saxon influence would all have played a role in differentiating the two. But interestingly, a Cornish speaker once told me he found Old Cymraeg to be far easier to understand than modern Cymraeg…Either way, the Corn(horn) Welsh and the Welsh are one in the same people, with a shared ancient linguistic culture we should ALL take great pride in.😊

[JB-mzeo]

A few days ago, I was talking to a woman in the Welsh shop in Carmarthen about this. She said it isn't true that if you speak Welsh, you can understand Cornish and vice versa. She said a woman came in speaking Cornish to her son, and I thought it was Welsh but couldn't understand it, and I thought I had had a stroke. It was hilarious! 🤣

[larrydykes]

Very interesting study in how languages split and drift apart beginning with small differences in pronunciation and word choice. Thanks, Ben!

[mathewmorgan]

Do some more big boy! really enjoyed this. Diolch!

[ajayempee]

Yeah definitely would like more Welsh/Cornish comparisons! Vocabulary such as animals, vehicles, clothes, furniture, colours, concepts e.g. big/little, long short etc., syntax similarities and differences, wh- question words, negating a noun/verb/adjective e.g. not food vs no food, not running, not funny, noun inflection including comparatives, superlatives... I could go on, but those are just a few videos I'd be interested in watching!

[dominikoeo]

Some of the sentences and numbers in Breton below for comparison.

[en] What is your name?
[kw] Pyth iw dha hannow?
[br] Petra eo da anv? (anv sounds like ano so similar hannow I think)?

[en] What time is it?
[kw] Py eur yw?
[br] Pet eur eo?

[en] Is there more food?
[kw] Eze mouy boos?
[br] Muioc'h a voued zo? (voued is the soft mutation of bouet for food)

And the numbers:

1 [br] unan [kw] onan [cy] un
2 [br] daou/div [kw] dew/diw [cy] dau/dwy
3 [br] tri/teir [kw] tri/teyr [cy] tri/tair
4 [br] pevar/peder [kw] peswar/peder [cy] pedwar/pedair
5 [br] pemp [kw] pymp [cy] pump
6 [br] c'hwec'h [kw] hwegh [cy] chwech
7 [br] seizh [kw] seyth [cy] saith
8 [br] eizh [kw] eth [cy] wyth
9 [br] nav [kw] naw [cy] naw
10 [br] dek [kw] deg [cy] deg
11 [br] unnek [kw] unnek [cy] unarddeg ujn deg un
...

[highestsprings]

Really interesting clip, thanks. Its good to see these languages surviving and growing. Thanks for the details. It is good to see the comparisons.

[mawkernewek]

Gwaynya actually comes from French. An Gerlyver Meur translates gwayn as n. 'gain, win, profit, advantage' and gives its etymology as MidE < OldF gain. This makes it a later loan than the Saxon period.

[bradwilliams]

In answer to your question, more videos like this would be wonderful!

[Apistoleon]

I love the comparison of Brythonic Celtic languages. It is refreshing indeed!

[joalexsg]

I so love them!Together with Breton, they make my favorite branch of the Celtic languages and I'm so grateful to the scholars of both these languages for having chosen a more faithful spelling to their pronunciation!

The only Goidelic I'm managing to learn is Manx, due to their spellings being not too distant from the pronunciation, unlike the insanity that has been made to both Irish and Scottish Gaelic.

Meus ras/ trugarez mad deoc'h/diolch yn fawr for this most interesting video😊❤🎉!

[EnglishOrthodox]

Would’ve been cool If Cumbric and the language of the Brigantes survived.

[Melvorgazh]

Very interesting @Ben Llewelyn
Please do more.
I noticed on some examples how Cornish was slightly closer to Breton.
I heard that Cornish had 2 spellings and there were some arguments having just one.
In Welsh only one spelling is used, right?
Or several?
Pob hwyl

[briandmaxime]

I speak breton and ai steel surprise that we have the same numbers and the same sentences structur in breton and cornish. For exemple: what is your name ? = Petra eo da anv ? what time is it = pet eur eo ?

[morvil]

Cornish does have a cognate to “ennyll” which is “dendyl” and means “to earn”. “Gwaynya” is not Saxon, it’s from Norman French *wainier, possibly given to Cornish through Middle English “wainen”, adding the initial “g” either to make it line up with other “gw”-words in Cornish, or by mixing *wainier/wainen with the central French form “gaignier” from which English gets “gain”.